This article shows how to override scene materials with V-Ray.
Overview
Material override is a handy feature for scene debugging. It's easy to control and saves time. Here we explore how to set up material override to the scene with V-Ray for various platforms.
Material Override in Maya
Overrides are done on render layers in Maya. The setup is slightly different depending on whether the new Render Setup layers are used or the legacy Render layers.
Maya Render Setup Layers
- Open the Render Setup Editor window.
- Create a new Layer.
- Create a new Collection.
- Select the geometry with the material(s) you want to override and add them to the Collection list.
- Right-click on the Collection and choose to Create Shader Override.
- Connect a material to the Shader Override attribute.
To exclude objects from the material override, simply place them in a separate Collection in the same layer.
Maya Legacy Render Layers
Given that you have already created render layers and scene objects are added to the layers, open the Channel Box and scroll down to the Render tab:
- Select the render layer that you want to override.
- Right-click and choose Overrides
- Choose an existing scene material from the Assign Existing Material Override list, or select Create New Material Override to create a new material.
Note: The Legacy Render Layers provide no way to exclude objects from a material override. The override is placed on the entire layer.
Material Override in Modo
There is one simple action in Modo that overrides the materials in the scene.
Go to the Shader tree and add a new default V-Ray Material on top of the Base shader layer.
Material Override in Cinema 4D
- Open the Render settings and enable the native Material Override option.
- Select the desired material. All objects are rendered with the selected material applied.
